The present invention relates to a coring reamer. More particularly, it refers to an improved guide bushing for a coring reamer, a storage package for a coring reamer assembly, and a method of using the coring reamer.
In the prior art, it is well known to use a coring reamer to cut a cylindrical bone tunnel at a surgical site. The reamer is coupled to a handpiece that rotates the reamer to facilitate cutting a bone tunnel. For this purpose, the reamer has a cylindrical distal end with sharp teeth formed thereon.
It is also well known to guide such a reamer by employing a guide pin separately and previously driven into or through the bone at the surgical site. As the reamer cuts the bone tunnel, the reamer slides over the guide pin to guide its motion. While the prior art contemplates an interface between the guide pin and the reamer, one aspect of the present invention proposes an improvement thereover.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,823 to Schmieding, the guide pin has an enlarged collar that guides the reamer over its peripheral edges. This collar is fixedly mounted on the guide pin or integrally formed therewith and facilitates removing the core from the coring reamer. A prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,308 to Meller et al. shows a guide pin with a cylindrical bushing having a cylindrical exterior and a passage therethrough allowing it to be freely slidably mounted over a guide pin. U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,967 to Wilson teaches a trephine instrument including a reamer with a blind passageway therethrough in which is freely slidably mounted a piston having enlarged distal and proximal flanges with the piston being spring biased into the distal direction. The piston is not easily removable from the trephine and the instrument is so designed that any bone core formed by the trephine can be removed by leaving the core attached at one end and pulling the instrument away so the core can be broken off at its distal end. None of this prior art has the advantages of the subject invention.
Applicants are aware of no known prior art relating to handling a reamed bone core other than simply pushing/pulling it out of a reamer onto a surface. Also applicants are not aware of any prior related to packaging suitable for storing coring reamers and usable thereafter to facilitate removal of a bone core from the reamer.